July 29, 2009

Among the 135 animals turned over to state officials Saturday at Connecticut's first exotic animals amnesty day were 15 boa constrictors, 15 pythons, seven alligators, a small monkey, a rattlesnake, and an anaconda.Most of the animals were exotic reptiles.

The state Department of Environmental Protection's hosted the event at the zoo in Bridgeport.

Owners didn’t need to give their names, but officials asked about the animals' diets, medical history, and temperament.

The amnesty day was organized five months after a chimpanzee escaped from a private home and mauled a Stamford, Conn. woman.

In addition to being dangerous, it's difficult for consumers to care for exotic animals in their homes, and they can escape or be released into the environment where they kill off native species. An example is in Florida where pet pythons have escaped into the Everglades and are taking over the ecosystem. See my article "Don't Buy Exotic Animals for Pets."

The state of Florida has offered five successful exotic animal amnesty days in the past five years.

This year, I’m having a tremendous crop of mulberries from my mulberry tree.

I’ve picked and picked and picked mulberries. I’ve frozen one quart and 14 pints of the berries.

I’m working hard this year to grow more of my own food to save money and cut down on the energy it takes to ship food.Since I don’t bake anymore because I gain weight when I eat sugar, I thought I’d try to make a mulberry pie with stevia.

Stevia is a sweet herb, native to Paraguay. The sweetener extracted from this plant can be substituted for sugar is some uses. It’s much sweeter than an equal amount of sugar

3. Put the mulberries in a large bowl. Sprinkle the flour or cornstarch and stevia mixture over the top of the berries. Stir gently.

4. Refrigerate the berries while you make the pie crust.

5. Line a pie plate with piecrust. Add the berry mixture. Dot with butter and then cover with the top pie crust. Crimp edges and cut slits in upper crust. Make an aluminum collar for the edge of the crust to keep it from burning.

5. Bake the pie in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes, until the berry mixture bubbles. Remove pie from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Lately, I’ve been making crusts with olive oil rather than hydrogenated vegetable shorting such as Crisco. It’s healthier.

Try it and let me know what you think.

Olive Oil Pastry

2 cups flour½ teaspoon salt2/3 cup olive oil3 tablespoons milk

1. Measure the four and salt into a large bowl.

2. Whip the olive oil and milk together with a fork. Pour over flour mixture. Mix.

3. Set aside one-third of the pastry for the top of the crust.

4. Press the remaining dough evenly against the bottom and sides of the pie plate.

July 27, 2009

Last fall, fall I bought Kiplinger’s Retirement Planning 2008 magazine. With articles such as "Retire Worry-Free," "Protect Your Nest Egg," "Plan Now," and "Live the Dream," I thought there would several articles I could blog about. However, when I picked up the magazine a few weeks after I purchased it, I was disappointed. The information didn’t fit the current financial crisis. I know the deadline for magazine articles is often three months before publication date. Kiplinger’s Retirement Planning magazine certainly was out of date.This year’s Kiplinger’s Retirement Planning 2009 magazine is much better.

July 26, 2009

About 1.4 million Buster Brown & Co.’s clog children’s shoes are being recalled, reports the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. About 73,000 pairs of shoes were previously recalled in April 2009.Manufactured in China and distributed by Brown Shoe Co. Inc., of St. Louis, Mo., and its affiliate Pagoda International Footwear Ltd., of Hong Kong, the shoes have decorative wheels that can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children, according to the commission.

The companies have received two reports of a decorative wheel detaching from the shoe. No injuries have been reported.

These shoes are a plastic molded EVA “water” clog and are designed to resemble a car. The shoes are red, brown, blue, yellow, and pink and most shoes bear the words “CARS,” “Transformers Animated,” or “Barbie.”

“Buster Brown & Co.™” is printed on the shoe inside at the heel, on a sewn-in tag inside the fleece-lined shoe, and on the original hang tag. The model or retail number can also be found on these tags.

The shoes were sold in children sizes five to 13 and youth sizes one to three.

Click here to read the retail numbers.The shoes were sold at major retailers nationwide, including Bealls’, Famous Footwear, J.C. Penney, Meijer, Rack Room, Sears, Shoe Show, Target, and Wal-Mart from August 2007 through June 2009 for $10 to $25.

Customers should immediately take this product away from children and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund, the commission advises.

For additional information, contact Buster Brown & Co. toll-free at 888-869-1044 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. CT Monday through Friday and between 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. CT on Saturday, visit the firm’s website at www.busterbrownshoes.com, or send an e-mail to Busterandtige@brownshoe.com.

Starting today on The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, I’m launching a best and worst consumer experience feature.

I think looking weekly at our best and worse experiences as consumers will help us learn from our successes and mistakes.

Each week, we have dozens of consumer happenings, some good and some bad.

My best consumer experience – Returning rhododendron fertilizer

A couple of years ago, I bought two bags of fertilizer for my rhododendrons from the local organic gardening store. I wanted to make sure that my 40 shrubs, which the former owners had planted, bloomed well.

I used one bag. The results were not what I’d intended. Instead of enhancing the flowers, the fertilizer made the rhododendrons grow. Instead of three to four feet, they grew to 10, 15, or 20 feet.

I’d placed the second paper bag of fertilizer in a bucket with a lid to keep it in good condition. I’d forgotten I had it until I cleaned out my garden shed and tore it down last fall.

When I returned the fertilizer, the clerk said she wouldn’t refund my money because she had only worked there for six weeks and didn’t know whether it should be refunded. I didn’t have the receipt.

The owner called me later in the day and said, even though they don’t make that kind of fertilizer anymore, he’d refund my $41.

Hooray. I think I’ll buy some lawn fertilizer with the refund.

My worst consumer experience – A rude restaurant owner

A group I work with, the Millennium Carillon Association, sponsored a mobile carillon to come to Heritage Park in Olympia, Wash., for two concerts.

The mobile carillon, a musical instrument that plays bell music, has 48 bells ranging in size from one ton to a few pounds. Carillon bells don’t swing or "peal" but are fixed to a steel framework.

I helped with the publicity for the concerts. One of my assignments was to make posters and put them up around town.

I had fun talking to people in stores about the concerts. Most were polite – until I came to one downtown restaurant.

When I asked the restaurant owner about the poster, he rudely told me no. I didn’t say anything; I just left.

Ironically, the same restaurant had been selected as the place we’d treat the carillonneur and the owner of the mobile carillon after the first concert.

I took a copy of the poster with me because I wanted to discuss with the owner the need to treat people politely when they come to his restaurant.

When I tried to talk him about it after the dinner, he was rude to me again. He didn’t listen to what I had to say. I told him I’d never come to his restaurant again. He made a grouchy reply.

And the amazing thing, he made another rude comment to me when he was taking the orders from our group.

I wonder how he can keep his clientele without knowing how to be polite.

Let me know about your best and worst consumer experiences for the week.

Healthcare-NOW! – An education and advocacy organization that advocates for the passage of national, single-payer healthcare legislation as in HR 676.National Coalition on Health Care – A nonprofit group made up of more than 70 organizations, which is working to achieve better, more affordable health care for all Americans.Public Citizen – A national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that represents consumer interests in Congress, the executive branch, and the courts.U.S.PIRG – A federation of state public interest research groups that works to win concrete results for the health and well being of consumers.AARP – A nonprofit membership organization that helps people 50 and older improve the quality of their lives.Universal Health Care Action Network – A grassroots organization working at the local and state level to build the political power needed to ensure that future health reform enacted in the U.S. provides affordable, quality health care for all.Stand Up for Health Care – An organization that empowers ordinary Americans with the knowledge and opportunity to become leaders in the movement for health care reform.Consumer Union’s Prescription for Change.org – A campaign by Consumers Union for safe, affordable, effective prescription drugs.Unions for Health Care Reform – A mobilization team of the AFL-CIO, working with a broad alliance of grassroots organizations to win progressive reform and give millions more union members the information and tools to become active players and health care voters.Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need – A national initiative working to make sure women’s voices are heard in the health reform debate and women’s concerns are addressed by policymakers developing national and state health reform plans.

He said the MedPAC program, a group of health care experts that makes recommends on cuts and specific changes to Medicare, should be given more authority. Currently, their suggestions don’t need to be followed.

Obama said Republican lawmakers proposed that these recommendations be sent to Congress for their approval. It would incentivize and empower important changes, he said.

Medicare benefits won’t be reduced, Obama said. The benefits will be made more effective.

Who do you trust to make decisions about which pills and treatments are best?

I don’t trust the pharmaceutical industry. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America or PhRMA, which represents the 29 largest drug companies, has spent $40 million lobbying on health care in the last three months, reports All Things Considered, a National Public Radio program.The drug companies also are lobbying. With their lobbyists and the PhRMA lobbyists, there are more lobbyists for the drug industry than there are members of Congress.

Jerry Avorn, M.D., author of “Powerful Medicines: The Benefits, Risks, and Costs of Prescription Drugs” said the drug companies are getting what they want in the proposed health care legislation.

Cheaper drugs from Canada and the ability of the government to negotiate the price of drugs are “off the table,” Avorn said on the program.

I don’t trust doctors. Doctors rely too heavily on the drug companies for information and treatment options. More and more information is being reported on faulty research results in medical journals and doctors being compensated by the drug industry.

For example, a world-renowned Harvard child psychiatrist, Joseph Biederman, M.D., whose work has helped fuel an explosion in the use of powerful antipsychotic medicines in children earned at least $1.6 million in consulting fees from drug makers from 2000 to 2007 but for years did not report much of this income to university officials, reports the article “Researchers Fail to Reveal Full Drug Pay” in The New York Times.I don’t trust insurance companies and health maintenance organizations. They’re making coverage decisions now, with no cost caps, and share a lot of the blame for our out-of-control health care costs.

Many Western medicine doctors rely extensively prescription drugs to relieve symptoms. Underlying problems aren't being addressed. People continue to take the drugs, many of which have devastating side effects, but they don't get better.

July 22, 2009

Baby boomers are one of the top groups that are having difficulty paying for health care, according to a recent study.Like many Americans, I’m worried about what’s going to be adopted. Although I think the changes will be an improvement, I’m concerned that some detail may affect me negatively.

1. The status quo is going to cost us a lot of money in each coming year, if reforms aren’t adopted. Interest groups, who don’t want a change in their position, are saying the status quo works fine for them.

2. Everyone will be covered. Obama said that’s 97 percent to 98 percent of people because a few may not want coverage.

3. Money to pay for insuring everyone can come from eliminating waste in current health care programs.

4. Things don’t happen in the nation’s capital if deadlines aren’t set. Action is needed quickly because health care costs are eroding the spending power of American families. Obama said he receives letters every day from families asking for help because health care costs are driving them toward bankruptcy.

5. The changes to the health care system won’t increase the deficit. Obama said he inherited an enormous deficit of $9.3 trillion a year for 10 years, and that has been reduced to $7.1 trillion a year for the same time period. His administration hasn’t reduced the deficit as much as they’d like yet, he said, but reductions will continue to be made, such as elimination of funding for the F-22 fighter jet program.

6. The health care bill won’t be signed if it adds to the deficit, costs more, or isn’t workable.

7. Consumers will be asked to give up things that don’t make them healthier, such as duplicate tests when they see a different doctor or go to the hospital. “I want to change that,” Obama said. “Every American wants to change that.” The patient, doctors, and hospitals need to be more discriminating consumers, he said. “We can’t afford what we’re doing now.”

8. The government won’t deny medical coverage, if a public option is adopted. People will have a range of plans to choose from, and one of them will be the public option plan. If the public option can offer better care at a lower price, it will encourage private insurance companies to do better.

9. The changes being proposed will provide consumers with more security and stability. Consumers can keep their current insurance if they’re happy with it. New rules will prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage if consumers get too sick. If people lose their jobs, move, or change jobs, they’ll still be able to have coverage. It will limit the amount an insurance company can force consumers to pay for medical costs out of their own pockets. It will cover preventive care such as check-ups and mammograms that save lives and money.

10. No insurance company will be allowed to deny consumers coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.

Are you less worried after listening to President Obama’s health care press conference? If so, why? If not, why not?

I finally found a spot where I could see Lakefair, but noticed a streetlight was nearby. I set up anyway because I was running out of time.

After I set up my tripod, I was upset. I’d left the device that locks the camera to the tripod on my video camera. There was nothing I could do about it. I set my camera on infinity, and set the spature to f4.5. I’d already set the camera at an ISO of 100, which was recommended in the articles I’d read.

When the explosions began, I propped my camera up on the tripod and began snapping away.

Although I got some good photos, my apature was open too far. Many of my photos were too white. I should have stopped after the first few minutes and readjusted – another recommendation from the articles I’d read. However, I just couldn’t stop shooting photos, it was so much fun.

Then, I had to hike back up the steep hill to my car. I got lucky and a nice family stopped to help me. The dad carried my tripod for me.

When I got home, I went back to the articles I’d read and saw that f8 to f16 is recommended for fireworks.

Experience matters. I’ll try again next year. I’m improving with each fireworks session.